Regulations and Regrets
by hilandncr
Summary: Jack sends Sam and Daniel to Destiny. While there, Sam confronts the reality of the choices she has made over the years when she comes face to face with TJ, a woman who has chosen a very different path. Spoilers for SGU Season 1. S/J established.


**Disclaimer:** None of the characters are mine; I just enjoy playing with them. No remuneration of any kind has been exchanged in relation to this work of fiction. All rights are retained by the legal owners of the Stargate franchise, its subsidiaries, licensees and assigns.

Set during SGU Season One, sometime between Faith and Subversion.

Spoilers for SGU Season One, and just to be on the safe side, all of SG1 and SGA as well.

Although this takes place mostly on board Destiny, I consider it an SG1 story because to me it really is all about Sam and Jack. S/J always established post-season eight, because that's how I roll.

**Author's Note:** This was written as a Secret Santa present for fellow angst lover Nynaeve on the Gateworld Sam/Jack Ship Appreciation Thread. I hope this is angsty enough for you. Merry Christmas!

**Regulations and Regrets**

Colonel Samantha Carter had previously experienced the displeasure of having her consciousness displaced from her own body. That time, however, she had been forced to take up temporary residence in a computer mainframe. This was not the same. But she certainly didn't feel like herself, and for a brief moment she was uncomfortably reminded of that experience so many years ago.

She took a moment to catch her breath and adjust to this new body she currently inhabited. She could tell she was shorter and slightly heavier, particularly on top. That was very odd. She had always been long and willowy. This body was definitely what one might call voluptuous. She wondered if it would get in the way or throw off her center of balance. She fleetingly considered what Jack might think of her new assets. Of course, they weren't hers, and this wasn't a topic they would discuss on her return, ever.

She noticed the fatigues and caught sight of the rank insignia—2nd Lieutenant. She knew she couldn't expect anything approaching her own rank of Colonel, nor did it really matter, but she was surprised that it rankled just a little to be in the uniform—and body—of a junior officer. She had worked hard and sacrificed a lot for her rank and position. Not important she reminded herself. At least she wasn't a Sergeant.

She sat at a square table, surrounded by chairs on all sides, the only furnishings in the dark and dingy room. On the table was a short square pedestal with a couple of dark roundish stones sitting on top of the glowing base. Across the table sat a plain, even non-descript man in a simple button down shirt and slacks whom she did not recognize. Then he quirked his head to the side and looked at her is a way that was just so unmistakably Daniel that she knew he had successfully made the trip with her.

She turned to the fair-haired Sergeant sitting beside them.

"I'm Colonel Samantha Carter. This is Dr. Daniel Jackson." She pointed to the man across from her.

"Take us to see Colonel Young."

o-O-o

The brief walk from the room where the Destiny crew kept the stones to the office Colonel Young had set up on board the ship was a titillating experience for Sam. She had been in command of Atlantis for a year and during that time had come to appreciate the clean beauty and soaring lines of that city's Ancient architecture. It was hard to believe this ship was made by the same race. Although, she could see a kind of industrial type elegance in the ship's design and she could hardly wait to take a closer look at the technology that appeared both clunky and undeniably sophisticated at the same time.

Colonel Young stood from behind the desk as Sam and Daniel followed the sergeant into the office.

"What's going on, Sergeant Riley?"

"We have some visitors from earth, Sir. This is Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson."

The Colonel came around from behind the desk. Sam noticed a slight limp as he moved.

He looked toward his guests and replied with a sardonic smile. "You'll have to forgive me. I didn't recognize you." Then he turned back to his subordinate. "Thank you Sergeant. You're dismissed."

Colonel Young leaned against the front of the desk and folded his arms across his chest as the Sergeant retreated. When the door mechanisms had ceased their grinding and clinking and a final clank indicated that it had clearly closed behind him, the Colonel turned back to his guests.

"Why are you here?" There was obvious wariness and just a hint of latent hostility in his tone. Sam had expected as much. The last time earth had interfered with the operations on board Destiny things had not gone well. She had not been a part of devising that rescue plan, and she's not sure she would have endorsed it had she been consulted. Regardless, she was slightly offended at his manner and reminded herself that while they were technically the same rank he was still the superior officer, and there was no need to aggravate the obvious tension.

Daniel caught Sam's noticeable failure to respond to the Colonel's question. "We were sent by General O'Neill."

"I gathered that. What I'm wondering is why?"

_Daniel strode into the office of General Jack O'Neill at Homeworld Command. As usual his head was down and he was reading something. He looked up just in time to avoid a collision with the other person currently occupying the space. His look of surprise was immediately replaced with a delighted smile. _

"_Sam." He quickly moved to hug his friend, who responded with the same enthusiasm. _

"_Daniel. It's good to see you."_

"_Same here. This is a surprise. I thought you were off in your space ship policing the galaxy?"_

"_We're on 'earth patrol' for the next several weeks." She raised her hands to form air quotes; the look on her face suggesting that the term was not hers, and he could guess who had coined it. They were interrupted by voices moving toward the door of the office. They both turned and were greeted by an eerily familiar sight._

"_Walter, is it even conceivable that the piles of paperwork regularly coming to this office could find their way into someone else's inbox for a change; thereby leaving me blissfully form free." The General motioned with his hands in such a way to indicate some miraculous dispersal of the offending documents._

"_Highly unlikely, Sir." The efficient Chief Master Sergeant deposited a large stack of folders into the General's inadvertently outstretched arms and hastily accomplished his retreat. _

_Jack walked over to his desk and released a frustrated sigh as he dropped the paperwork with a thud. He looked up as he sat. "Hey, guys. What's up?"_

"_Ah, Jack, you called us here." Daniel gestured between the two of them from the other side of the laden desk. _

"_Right." Jack waved his arm in a characteristically exaggerated motion. _

_Sam couldn't help wondering what these two would look like as marionettes. She repressed a smile as Jack took a seat and went on._

"_I'm sending you to Destiny."_

"_What? Why?" _

"_Because I need to know what's going on there."_

_Sam could hear the obvious frustration in his voice as he spoke and believed she understood what he was really asking them to do. "I thought you were receiving regular reports through the communications stones, Sir. Has something happened to disrupt the flow of information?" _

"_You mean other than the scary blue aliens following them and possibly hijacking the network." Daniel chimed in._

_Sam looked at him unamused. "I thought those problems had been taken care of since Destiny moved into another galaxy. Has something else happened?"_

"_Not yet." Jack leaned forward clearly serious now. "I need an honest assessment of what's really happening there. I've got an IOA human resource rep on a power trip; a paranoid megalomaniac scientist with something to prove, and a commander that can't be bothered with following orders."_

_Sam could see the tension lines around his eyes and mouth as he spoke. Anyone who didn't know him as well would have thought him distant and uncaring; that he was just a hard-nose general trying to clean up the mess not of his making and move on. But Sam knew better. He had to be getting pressure from both his military and political superiors. Losing a Senator and his daughter wouldn't be making the situation any easier. And the IOA was most certainly up to no good. They had an amazing ability to misjudge the gravity of any given situation in their unrelenting quest for personal and political advantage. _

_But as hard as all of those outside forces might be pressing on him, Sam knew what weighed him down the most was knowing that __his people__ were stranded out there, somewhere at the far edge of the universe. Jack hated losing people under his command. It was the one thing that could crack that seemingly impenetrable façade of flippant reserve. What was more, Jack had been there, more than once in fact, stuck out in the universe with no apparent way back. But he always had her to bring him home._

_Sam felt her conscience twinge at this thought. She __had__ been there. She never should have left Icarus Base without making sure everyone got out. She knew this wasn't exactly reasonable. The planet was about to blow. She had a responsibility to her crew and those she had pulled out in time. When she learned that the Stargate had been activated she was justified in assuming the rest of the base personnel would gate back to earth. Jack had assured her more than once since then that she made the right call. But she couldn't help but feel some responsibility. _

_She was roused from her musings with a gentle nudge from Daniel and a familiar word from the General, "Carter?"_

"_Sorry. Sir, how much can we really do there? We can't take notes or bring anything back. We can't provide them with supplies. We might just be getting in the way."_

"_And what makes you think we can learn anything useful at this point? I get the feeling they've become a little wary of help from earth." _

"_Look, you both have more experience than anyone else with the Ancients and their technology. You also both have an almost freakish ability to remember details on just about everything." _

_Jack turned to Daniel. "You're the one who recruited Rush to the program. You're probably the only person he might actually speak to like an adult because of your time in the Ancient glowy club." _

_Daniel had to roll his eyes at that. Not just because he was annoyed that Jack insisted on characterizing his time as an ascended being that way, but also because even after all these years he still held some bitterness over the outcome of that little detour._

"_And Carter if there's anyone who can make the scientists and the soldiers play nice it's you. You understand the tech, the command structure, and you're good with people." _

_His confidence buoyed her and she couldn't repress a smile. He always believed she could do anything. For him she had worked miracles. He simply assumed she would do the same for the people trapped on Destiny. _

"_I need you guys to give me something I can work with here."_

Daniel stood in his usual pose of relaxed thoughtfulness, with his arms hugging his body, as Sam stood rigidly straight beside him. They turned their heads to one another. Daniel cocked his eyebrows and Sam quirked her mouth in a slight grimace. Colonel Young got the uncomfortable feeling they were conversing extensively in those miniscule movements.

_Daniel nodded at Sam as if to say, "How much should we tell him?" _

_Sam tilted her head. "You're the diplomatic one."_

_A ghost of a smile appeared on Daniels face. "You're in charge."_

_Sam looked away. "Don't remind me."_

Daniel turned back to Colonel Young. "We're just here to take a look around. Jack thought a thorough assessment of your situation here would help us determine how we can better assist you."

Sam could see that the Colonel believed there was a lot more to it than that, but it didn't matter; he would cooperate, for now.

After a moment's pause Colonel Young addressed Sam. "Where would you like to start?"

"I think Daniel would like to speak with Dr. Rush and I'll need to interview all of the military personnel."

"Very well."

The Colonel went to the door and pressed the unlatching mechanism. As soon as there was a sufficient gap between the retreating panels to allow a person to step through he strode into the corridor, turned to the right and began moving swiftly down the hall. Sam silently steeled herself for the day ahead and followed after him with Daniel at her side.

o-O-o

Sam entered the spacious room that had been designated as the mess hall and moved immediately over to the counter where the food was being prepared. She accepted a bowl with a word of thanks and a smile for the unlucky soul who had to dispense the less than appetizing meal to an unenthusiastic crew. Spotting Daniel on the far side of the room, sitting with his back hunched and his face over a small notepad, she turned to join him. She didn't even attempt to suppress a fond shake of her head as she walked over to join him. Even after all these years, she thought, with all the military training and combat experience, he still sits with his back to the door.

"Oh hi Sam," Daniel said as she sat down. "How's it going?"

"Fine," she replied and glanced around. A few members of the crew were seated at long tables scattered throughout the room. She almost felt oppressed by the overwhelming grayness of this place, interrupted infrequently by the dim glow of various lights dispersed along the walls. This ship was definitely not designed for comfort. The Ancients must have meant it for some utilitarian purpose.

She turned back to her food and suppressed a grimace. It reminded her of the gruel that had slopped down a trough extending out of the Stargate when they had been trapped in Hadante prison so many years before. She stirred the pasty liquid and then quickly scooped a spoonful into her mouth. It could definitely use some of Linea's "treatments," but as the Colonel had said then, she'd had worse.

She decided to grab Daniel's attention. "So, what ya got?"

"Oh, these are some of the notes Dr. Rush has been taking of the information in Destiny's database. They haven't been able to unlock any of the master control systems and they've only accessed a small fraction of the data, but still there's a lot here." Daniel pushed the notebook aside to take up his forgotten meal.

"How about you?"

"I've finished interviewing most of the military personnel. Things are still pretty tense around her since the failed coup. I thought I'd talk to the scientists after lunch."

"Yeah I've been going over things with Dr. Rush, but the technical details are way over my head. I think he's getting a little annoyed with my questions. You should really sit down and talk with him."

Sam hid a frown with a mouthful of food, but Daniel wasn't fooled. "What's wrong? I thought you'd enjoy getting into all this Ancient technology."

"It's not that." Sam set the food aside and picked up her cup to take a drink. "I haven't had that much of a chance to work with him . . ." She paused, considering her next thought. "He's not all that pleasant to be around. Kind of egotistical and condescending."

Daniel couldn't resist the opening. "Sounds like you're describing McKay. And as I recall you learned to work with him, eventually."

Sam shrugged. "I guess I prefer scientific geniuses who are boisterous and obnoxious to devious and underhanded."

"You do realize you just called McKay a genius." Daniel leaned back as a broad grin spread across his face.

Sam didn't see anything handy she could throw at him so she settled from a burning glare, which caused Daniel to quickly straighten.

"There's still a lot we don't know about Dr. Rush. He's a very closed individual. And it's not like you have any experience dealing with anyone like that."

Sam wasn't about to accept this poorly veiled comparison between Dr. Rush and Jack O'Neill. Yes, maybe there were things in Rush's past that haunted him, and she knew that like Jack's old demons, they could have the power to turn a man inward onto himself. But Rush had too much of a calm self possession for her to believe his reticence was merely an emotional coping mechanism. There might have been a time when she would have been as willing as Daniel to give the man the benefit of the doubt, but she was a seasoned military commander now and had not been so trusting in years.

When Sam didn't say anything, Daniel went on. "I'm not sure we can classify his motives as being entirely bad at this point."

Sam decided maybe it was time to cut off this avenue of conversation. She was anxious to get a look at the control room and go over the ships systems; so she agreed to meet with Dr. Rush after speaking to Eli and some of the other scientists. "And you can talk with Wray."

That threw Daniel off guard.

"She's a civilian Daniel and she's with the IOA; she'll respond better to you."

"I'm happy to talk to her, but I think you overestimate my abilities to charm anyone from the IOA."

He could tell that despite the passage of time Sam still held a bit of grudge when it came to the IOA because of the Atlantis firing. But Daniel conceded that it was probably better for him to meet with the prickly human resources representative. While Sam didn't have what might be considered a typical military bearing she was Air Force, and Wray certainly hadn't made any qualms about showing her disdain in that quarter.

"You know Sam, I'm looking around here and everyone seems so calm. I mean, maybe a little subdued and on edge, but that's understandable. Do you really think everything is going as bad as we thought?"

"Daniel, they've had an alien abduction, a mutiny and a mass defection. I think everyone is just bracing themselves for whatever disaster might come next."

Sam leaned in and placed a steepled hand on the table between them as she took on that look she assumed whenever she was about to launch into a long and complicated explanation. The kind Jack would generally cut off after about the third hundred word sentence.

"As I see it there are three centers of power on this ship right now. Dr. Rush has the knowledge and technical skills. Camile Wray, with her organization and people skills has won the trust of most of the civilian population left on board. Then there's Colonel Young, who is still holding onto some measure of military discipline, for the moment. Unless something happens to bring these people together, they'll destroy themselves before we can make any progress toward getting them home."

As Sam went on to explain the military situation and review some of her discussions with the airman and marines she had interviewed Daniel could tell she wasn't very happy with Colonel Young. She was respectful—this was Sam after all, but she clearly did not have much respect for him.

Sam paused briefly in her assessment and Daniel turned to see what had caught her eye. When he turned back she was again relating some of the issues she had uncovered and he tried to appear interested but his mind wandered back to the woman who had entered the room just moments before. She was blond, her hair pinned up around her head, and she wore fatigues that indicated she was an Air Force officer; although the uniform appeared rather ill fitting as it pulled across her slightly rounded belly. Daniel concluded she must be Lieutenant Johansen.

Seeing her Daniel could understand some of Sam's hostility toward Colonel Young. After everything she and Jack had sacrificed, all they had endured, and how long they waited before finally being together. If there was one thing calculated to strike a nerve with Sam it would be the flaunting of the Air Force fraternization regulations.

From the look that had crossed Sam's face when she saw the Lieutenant Daniel believed she didn't hold much sympathy for the young medic either. And when Sam finished her observations on the military personnel he couldn't help but notice one glaring omission. He was almost afraid to bring it up, but he knew he had to.

"So when are you going by the infirmary to talk with Lieutenant Johansen?"

Sam's answer confirmed his suspicions. "Dr. Brightman visited to perform surgery on Dr. Rush several weeks ago, remember. I'm sure an assessment of the medical facilities was in her report. Besides, I'm not really qualified in that area."

"Sam, you were our field medic for ten years, and you worked with Janet quite a bit. You certainly know enough to do at least a cursory review. And Jack wanted our evaluation of the whole situation on board Destiny. Pretty sure he's going to ask you about the infirmary."

Sam was about to disagree when Daniel added, "And Lieutenant Johansen is military so I'm sure you were going to talk with her anyway."

The young lieutenant made Sam uncomfortable on many levels, but she wasn't about to confess that to Daniel. "It's on my list," she stated with false casualness as she rose from the table. It was going to be a busy afternoon. She made her excuses, cleared her dishes and headed out the door. She didn't give the blond lieutenant glancing in her direction as she walked by a second look.

o-O-o

TJ tried to keep herself occupied and not stare at the woman who was methodically moving through her infirmary with the air of someone who was strictly focused on her task, cataloguing and assessing everything she observed. From time to time the Colonel would turn to her and ask a succinct question. When TJ had given her answer the Colonel would say a subdued word of thanks and return to her work.

TJ had heard of Colonel Carter of course, everyone in the Stargate program had. She wasn't sure what she had expected. What should a woman who had blown up a sun be like? She supposed that from everything she had heard, the one thing she did not expect was for her to be so cold.

While not a confrontational person by nature, TJ certainly couldn't be characterized as a wallflower by any stretch of the imagination. If she had done something to earn the ire of the Colonel, she wanted to know what it was. After all, TJ felt she had been coping quite well with some very difficult circumstances and she felt her superiors should know that.

She moved over to where the Colonel was looking over the stock of medicinals they had obtained on the obelisk planet. She waited until she caught the other officer's attention.

"Colonel Carter, have you found anything wrong here?"

Sam turned toward the Lieutenant. Before answering she glanced almost imperceptibly toward TJ's stomach. Her face assumed a blank expression. "No. Everything seems to be in order Lieutenant." Turning back to the cabinet, "It looks like you've made some very ingenious adaptations."

"Thank you, ma'am." TJ knew she should let it be, but she had felt the Colonel's disapproval in that glance and she wanted a chance to defend herself. "I meant do you have a problem with me?"

Sam was tempted to tell the Lieutenant that she was out of line and dismiss her back to her own work. But she decided maybe it was time someone did say something and maybe she should be the one to say it. She abandoned the medical supplies and turned to fully face the young officer.

"Yes Lieutenant, I do have a problem with you."

TJ hadn't expected the Colonel to be so swift and direct and she braced herself for what was coming.

"You had an affair with your commanding officer. What you did was stupid and wrong. From what I can see you are a talented medic and a decent officer. You could have had a successful career, but you let yourself be overcome by inappropriate feelings and foolish desires."

The harshness of the Colonel's reply left TJ feeling a little off balance. She was tempted to back away. She knew if they were on earth she would have faced a lot more of this kind of reaction and possibly a court martial. But here, stranded on Destiny, she had received a great deal of empathy and support. Even the other military officers on board didn't seem inclined to condemn her openly, or even speak too harshly about her behind her back. Perhaps they felt that being in this place in her condition was punishment enough for anyone. It had allowed her to ignore much of the guilt she felt over the affair and focus on more immediate concerns.

"You think I don't know." She looked away at first, but then she found some of the anger and resentment welling up inside her from these accusations by an outsider who couldn't possibly know what these last few months had been like. She met the Colonel's accusing stare. "But this isn't just about me. All you see is a woman who may have damaged the good reputation of all female Air Force officers, and you can't stand that."

Sam could see the Lieutenant was fighting a war within herself. She was looking for a justification, but Sam wasn't going to let her have it, not completely. "As women in the military we are under a lot of pressure. I know how our conduct is scrutinized more than the men; the assumptions that are made about us if we succeed; the criticism leveled at us when we fall short. But that's just an excuse Lieutenant. You could have made a different choice."

"With all due respect Colonel, I find it hard to believe that you of all people are lecturing me about my relationship with a superior officer. Aren't you married to General O'Neill? If I recall he was your commanding officer at one time."

Sam was a little stunned by the accusation. Her marriage to Jack had never been a matter of public pronouncement, but neither was it a secret. She knew it was general knowledge throughout the Stargate program by now. It wasn't something she was ashamed of, but it also wasn't something she discussed with strangers. Sam realized, however, that she may have backed the Lieutenant into a corner and like a trapped animal fighting for a way out, she shouldn't be surprised by the vicious reaction.

She considered the Lieutenant's assumptions and thought maybe she would benefit from knowing something of Sam's own experience. This made her willing to say more about her relationship than she normally would.

"I don't think you understand Lieutenant, General O'Neill and I had a completely professional relationship so long as we were within the same direct chain of command. Yes, we cared about each other. We had a very difficult and dangerous job and SG-1 was a very close team. But we put our personal desires aside because that's what the mission and our oath as Air Force officers required. We are married now because we had enough respect for ourselves and one another to serve together with integrity."

"Well I'm sorry ma'am, but not all of us can count on life working out so perfectly."

Sam's innate compassion was kicking in now. She could see the regrets and the uncertainty the young woman was holding back, and it softened Sam's view of her somewhat. "Do you think I don't have regrets? I look at you Lieutenant and see something I may never have. The family I thought I'd have one day, the children I wanted, that's just no longer a realistic possibility for me. But in the end I still believe that following the regulations and schooling my desires was the right thing to do."

The two women stood before one another in silence, neither one completely composed. Both thinking of things they lost and things they had. Finally, Sam spoke softly. "We all pay the price for our choices, whatever they may be. No one gets everything. We have to do our best to make the choices that give us the fewest regrets."

o-O-o

Daniel leaned on the rail of the observation deck next to Sam who was staring intently at the stars as they passed by in a muddled fog. It had been a very long day aboard Destiny. Between them they had spoken to every person on board, reviewed the accessible databases and combed the habitable areas of the ship. It was going to be a long debrief when they returned to earth.

Sam straightened and let out a long, slow breath. Daniel absently reached to push up glasses that weren't there and looked sheepishly at Sam's suppressed mirth. He wrapped his arms around his torso and looked out into space as he spoke.

"Do you miss it?"

Sam continued looking outward for a moment and then turned to lean one hip on the railing. "Daniel, I command earth's premiere interstellar spacecraft. This is my everyday?" She gestured toward the universe slipping by before them.

"I know. That's why I asked, do you miss it?"

Anyone else might have been confused by that question. But she and Daniel had always been in sync with one another's thought processes. She knew he was referring to the exploration and the adventure. Her life aboard the Hammond had become somewhat routine, almost everyday as she had said. She patrolled the solar system; helped ferry assets and personnel back and forth between off-world bases; got into an occasional dog fight with Lucian Alliance goons. It wasn't the fly by the seat of your pants, you never know what's coming at the next turn, we could die any minute sort of existence of their SG-1 days. A part of her missed the excitement of it all, and being out here on the edge of the universe would certainly not be dull.

"No." She answered happily. "I like being home in time for dinner."

In a manner of speaking, that is. She couldn't actually be home for dinner every night. But she did have a fairly regular schedule and she could be home for Christmas or Cassie's birthday. She got to speak with Jack almost every night, whether she was home or not—a little perk of their current ranks and past service. It wasn't your traditional nine to five, white picket fence existence, but it was her version of it and it suited her.

She turned away from the window without any reluctance. "Let's go home."

o-O-o

TJ lay on her side in the darkened infirmary as the sound of gunshots faded into silence. She could feel the blood pooling beneath her torso. She pressed her hand on her swollen stomach. Pain ripped through her abdomen. She knew something was terribly, horribly wrong.

Her mind wandered back through all the events that had brought her here and she wondered how things could have gone differently for her. How she could have made a different choice at any given point in her life. She thought about some of the things Colonel Carter had said to her several weeks before. The other officer had been right, about the regulations, about choices, about everything. TJ thought she could definitely stand to have a few less regrets right now as she was pulled from consciousness and everything around her faded into blackness.

o-O-o

Sam lay on her side in the darkened bedroom as the night faded into dawn. She could feel Jack pressed closely behind her, his warm skin against her back. His slow, even breaths skimmed along the crook of her neck where his face was nuzzled in her hair. Their legs were tangled together with his arm draped over her hip. She lifted his hand and placed it on her smooth stomach and covered it with her own. An electric tingle coursed through her body. She knew that at this moment everything in her life was completely, utterly right.

Her mind wandered back through all the events that had brought them to this point in their lives, the choices they had made, the sacrifices. She thought about the denial and the distance, the connection they could never completely deny, and finally the melding together, body and soul. How different their lives would be right now if they hadn't followed the regulations, if they had given in to their desires so much sooner. What might they have lost?

"Sam, stop thinking and go back to sleep." Jack's drowsy voice rasped in her ear.

She ducked her head and smiled. He always claimed he could hear her thinking. She leaned into him and he dropped a few light kisses along her collar bone as his hand began to move in gentle circles along her abdomen.

"How am I supposed to sleep with you doing that?" Sam purred contentedly.

He grunted quietly and readjusted their positions so that she was nestled even more closely against him and continued petting her softly.

"I love you," he whispered as he slowly drifted back to sleep.

Sam was feeling the pull of sleep herself now. But before she drifted off she thought of what she had told Lieutenant Johansen several weeks before. The regulations, and to some extent their own fears, had kept them apart for a long time. But they were stronger for it, and now there was nothing that could come between them. She could not regret that she thought as she was pulled from consciousness and everything around her faded into contented dreams.


End file.
